NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court directed all the states and Union territories to furnish updated details relating to jails, including the sanctioned capacity of each prison and steps taken to check overcrowding, by May 18.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also sought details about the number of women’s prisons and the facilities available in them, including the measures taken to ensure education and overall welfare of children living with the female inmates.
Senior advocate Gaurav Agrawal, the amicus curiae in a suo motu matter concerning inhuman conditions in jails, had pointed out that the statistics placed on record pertain to 2023.
Noting that the availability of updated data was indispensable for the effective consideration of the proceedings, the bench said the data should include jail-wise capacity of each prison, total number of prisoners, percentage of overcrowding in each jail, steps proposed to address overcrowding, details of women’s jails, facilities provided to women prisoners and children accompanying them (including educational and medical facilities), sanctioned strength of prison staff, existing vacancies, steps taken to fill them, along with all ancillary aspects relating to prison administration.